The document said that last year, 850 national or provincial-level vocational training centers were built nationwide for disabled people, and 367,000 additional registered disabled people found jobs.

A total of more than 9.4 million registered disabled people were employed as of last year.

Despite progress, the white paper said there is still a huge gap between the lives led by those with special needs and the lives to which they aspire.

Hu Kaihong, spokesman for the State Council Information Office, said at the news conference Thursday that in the past 70 years, China has made efforts to protect the needs of the disabled and help them become contributors to and beneficiaries of economic development.

"China has discovered a development path for promoting disability rights and interests with Chinese characteristics," he said.

Hu said China has 85 million disabled citizens, the largest such group worldwide, and therefore faces huge challenges.